Scientists Have Just Confirmed The Phenomenal Discovery Of A Liquid Water Lake On The South Pole Of Mars
Scientists have just published a new study which has confirmed that the first known liquid water has been found on Mars, with a lake lurking 0.93 miles beneath the ice cap at the red planet’s south pole and extending 12.4 miles in length
As Science Magazine report, the lake on Mars is believed to be very similar to pools of water that can also be found beneath the ice of Antarctica and Greenland. And, just like the subglacial lakes here on Earth, it is certainly feasible that life may also be found in the one just discovered on the red planet.
As Imperial College London geophysicist Martin Siegert enthusiastically explained, “It will open up a very interesting area of science on Mars.”
It is believed that billions of years ago there may have been a plentiful supply of water on Mars, back when its atmosphere was much different than it is today, and old lake beds, river channels, and floodplains are still fully visible on the planet’s surface.
The device that can be credited for the new discovery of the liquid lake on the red planet is called the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument (MARSIS) and was held on the orbiter known as the Mars Express, which was deployed by the European Space Agency.
Far beneath the ice cap at Mars’s south pole lies a lake of liquid water—the first to be found on the Red Planet: https://t.co/VBue3BcEgn
— News from Science (@NewsfromScience) July 25, 2018
Robert Orosei, who led the new research which has shown that liquid water still exists on Mars in the form of a subglacial lake, noted that studielectric permittivity allowed scientists to locate this body of water.
“On Earth, it’s almost a given that if a ground-penetrating radar spots stronger reflections from the sub-surface than from the surface of the polar ice, then you are seeing liquid water.”
According to Physics World, it is not known at this time whether the liquid water lake that was detected on the red planet is a shallow layer lake or whether it is a deep lake. However, the Norwegian Polar Institute’s Anja Diez has commented that there are certainly similarities between the lake on Mars and our subglacial lakes here on Earth and explained that scientists will be keeping an open mind on the subject until they have obtained further data.
“In Antarctica the water can exist because the temperatures below the kilometer-thick ice can reach melting point.”
Excitingly, future missions to Mars will be equipped with high-frequency radar, which means that we will be able to get a much better picture of the ground ice on the red planet and everything that lurks beneath it.
The new study on the liquid water lake that was found on the south pole of Mars has been published in the journal Science.
